Samsung's 2013 home theater line: Giga Sound System and lots of tubes (pictures)
Samsung's press event in New York featured its new 2013 home theater offerings, including a jumbo karaoke system and lots of vacuum tubes.
Matthew Moskovciak
Covering home audio and video, Matthew Moskovciak helps CNET readers find the best sights and sounds for their home theaters. E-mail Matthew or follow him on Twitter @cnetmoskovciak.
Ty Pendlebury is a journalism graduate of RMIT Melbourne, and has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.
ExpertiseTy has worked for radio, print, and online publications, and has been writing about home entertainment since 2004. He majored in Cinema Studies when studying at RMIT. He is an avid record collector and streaming music enthusiast.Credentials
Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.
While most of the products at Samsung's press event in New York were already debuted at CES 2013, it's the first time we've seen the MX-FS9000 Giga Sound System. It's a jumbo-size 2.2-channel stereo system decked out with 15-inch subwoofer and 2,560 watts of power. The Giga Sound System is slated to be released in May for $1,499.
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DJ effects, karaoke, and more
The Giga Sound System is karaoke-enabled with a mic input, plus it can play back music via Bluetooth, CD, and USB.
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Samsung HT-F6500W
Samsung was also showing off its midrange home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) system, the HT-F6500W ($599). It's a 5.1 system with a wireless subwoofer, wireless rear speakers and built-in Blu-ray player capable of accessing Samsung's Smart TV suite of streaming-media services.
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Samsung's tube obsession
Like many Samsung home audio products this year, the HT-F6500W also features glowing vacuum tubes on the main unit. The tubes probably won't make the HT-F6500W sound better, but they give the system an interesting look.
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Samsung HW-F750
Samsung also showed off its sound bar with a built-in tube, the HW-F750.
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310-watt sound bar
The HW-F750 has 310 watts of power and built-in Bluetooth, but it costs a whopping $800.
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Multipositional for wall-mounting
The HW-F750 can also be positioned to lie flat against a wall, similar to the design of the Sonos Playbar.
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Samsung HW-F550
Samsung also had the skinny HW-F550 ($400) sound bar on display. It's hard to imagine a big sound coming from a sound bar so thin, but at least it has a wireless sub to help fill out the sound.
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Samsung DA-F60
Bluetooth speakers are everywhere these days, but Samsung DA-F60 manages to look nicer than most, with a convenient flip-up cover that's built-into the design.
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Samsung MX-FS8000
Rounding out Samsung home audio offerings was a step-down to the Giga Sound System, the MX-FS8000, coming out in June for $999.
